Inkamana High School is in Vryheid, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa. It was started in 1923 and had 200 boarding students in 2009.
History
Inkana is recognised as a historic school. It is situated in the heart of the Zululand. Inkamana High School was started 2 February 1923 as an intermediate School with only one class of grade 5 by Benedictine Missionaries from the Benedictine Congregation of St. Ottilien in Germany. The school had fifteen pupils, four boys and eleven girls, all from Vryheid and the Paulpietersburg district. They were all boarders at Inkamana. They paid sixpence a month for school fees and brought farm and garden products to pay for their boarding accommodation. A Roman Catholic Missionary School, was founded in 1918. The first Junior Certificate Examination was held at Inkamana in November 1934. The Senior Certificate course at Inkamana began in 1935 and a year later four pupils were preparing for their graduation. However, three of them left. The only remaining student, Ulrica Dzivane, successfully wrote her Senior Certificate Examination in Nov. 1936. Since then the Senior Certificate results have gained for Inkamana the reputation of being one of the best schools in the country. The failure rate was always low.
Today
The school recorded a hundred percent pass rate in matric examinations from 1969 until now, 2009. Presently the student enrolment is 200 with one class for each grade. This co-educational boarding school is part of, and located within, Inkamana Abbey in the Abaqulusi region of KwaZulu Natal Province. There is a monastery, church, farm and other related activities as part of the location. In 2007 Inkamana was amongst several schools recognised as "historic schools". Funding of six million rand a year was earmarked for Adams College, Inkamana High School, Ohlange High School, Inanda Seminary and Vryheid Comprehensive High School to make them academies focussing on Maths, Science and Technology. Anglican Archbishop EmeritusNjongonkulu Ndungane has said that they still need funds and "little has been achieved since democracy".
